No doubt a half-way decent Stewart's Spider would fish as well (or more likely, better.) It is an interesting way to get CdL on a hookshank, though.Hank--"bare" feather fibers are best to put in loops since they're easier to separate and distribute, especially if you're moving them up and over a layer of dubbing. (Fibers with intact barbicels grab dubbing, each other, and generally misbehave.) Of course, there are naturally occuring feathers that don't marry well and thus don't have to be burned--Coq de Leon, for instance, and a lot of golden pheasant or even ringtail pheasant feathers don't have a bunch of barbs. Otherwise, the "haystack" think just kinda happens...